Defense of the Ancients

File:VariousDotaVersions.jpg

The various DotA versions.

Defense of the Ancients, commonly known as DotA, is an Aeon of Strife-style custom map created for the game Warcraft 3 (by Blizzard Entertainment). Originally developed for Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos (RoC) by Eul (US West), the map was later unofficially ported into the Warcraft 3 expansion pack, The Frozen Throne (TFT). Currently, several variants of the map exist under the name of DotA.

Gameplay

Concepts

Since DotA is a custom map, some of the game concepts are very different (and much simpler; it takes little or no skill to master the game) from the original Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos or The Frozen Throne. The original game and the DotA custom map, however, do share some similarities, such as usage of modified Warcraft characters, adaptation of Warcraft spells such as Heal, and items such as Boots of Speed.

For the DotA map, two bases are set at opposite corners of the map. In each base is situated a central building known as the Ancient, from which the map derives its name. The goal of the game is to destroy the Ancient of the opposing team and to defend one's own ancient. Ancients used for each team are commonly The Frozen Throne/World Tree (in the variants Classic, Allstars); and the normal Town Centers for either side (in the variant Outland). Three lanes join the two bases. A river runs diagonally through the center of the map, perpendicular to the three lanes. Each team has a number of defensive towers in each lane, placed on their side of the river.

The teams consist of up to five humans, each controlling a single hero, and a computer which controls creeps. Standard variants do not support the artificial intelligence (AI) for computer controlled heroes. A variant known as DotA Mercenaries has allowed more computer controlled players, and is commonly used for training purposes or when other human players are not available to play with. Some developers are coming up with test versions of DotA maps with variable-skill AI players.

The opposing bases produce troops, known as creeps, every 30 seconds, beginning at 1 minute 30 seconds. The creeps are produced in sets (also known as waves or spawns) composed of a number of ranged and melee units, and path down the three lanes available on the map towards the opposing team's base. As the creeps travel along these lanes they will battle any opposing creep, heroes, or towers they meet. Towers possess superior firepower compared to the creep, so it is difficult for creep to advance past towers without assistance of a hero.

Certain versions of DotA (e.g. Allstars and Mercenaries) have Runes in the river which can be picked up by any hero to gain bonuses for a short time (such as Double Damage, Regeneration, Haste, Illusion and Invisibility), while other versions have different uses for Runes (e.g. Challenge activation in Outland).

Without the influence of heroes, the game cannot quickly be won by either team. Creeps will battle each other and then sacrifice themselves in futile attacks on the towers. However, in practice, there will usually be a slight imbalance of power over time due to the specific placement of towers, creep paths, and other variables (due to slight tweaks over a number of versions, the "advantaged" side varies). This imbalance, however, is so slight that the presence of even a single hero for any amount of time will negate it.

Introduction to Heroes

File:Dota hero attributes.png

A snapshot of the attributes for a Level 1 spellcaster hero at the start of an Allstars game

Heroes are ranked by level. Upon gaining a level, heroes receive bonus attributes (see below) and a skill point to be spent in learning a new or upgrading an existing skill. Heroes may gain levels during the game by earning experience. Experience can be earned by killing creeps, which is known as creeping or farming and by killing enemy heroes which is known as pawning what lets a hero earn much more experience points. Neutral creeps of varying difficulty are also planted throughout the map, and they may also be killed for experience and gold. Neutral creeps are not programmed to do anything except battle other characters who come too close; as such, they exist only to be killed for experience and gold.

Hero Attributes

Heroes possess three main statistics, known as attributes (Strength, Intelligence and Agility) with every hero having a Primary Attribute. The Primary Attribute can be determined based on icons shown on the status panel, as depicted here (Strength depicted by a 'fist' icon, Intelligence by 'mind', and Agility by 'foot'). Increasing the Primary Attribute of a hero will increase the hero's damage. In addition, increasing the attributes of a hero will enhance corresponding statistics for that hero.

• Strength enhances hitpoints and hitpoint regeneration. 1 Strength point = 19 HP, 1 Strength point = 0.03 HP/sec regeneration increase
• Agility enhances attack speed and armor rating. 7 Agility points = 1 armor, 1 Agility point = 1% IAS (increased attack speed)
• Intelligence enhances mana points and mana regeneration. 1 Intelligence point = 13 MP, 1 Intelligence point = 0.04 MP/sec regeneration increase

(the effects of an improvement of a hero's attributes may vary between different heroes. Check this page for complete information about this issue: http://www.ibaam.com/wc3/stat_analysis.shtml)

Hero Statistics

Heroes also possess a variety of statistics that may be altered by inherent skills, purchased items, or changes of attributes:

• Attack Damage indicates how much a hero's attack subtracts from the recipient's hit points. Increasing the Primary Attribute of the hero will increase its attack damage, where every point of increase in the Primary Attribute increases the attack damage by one point.

• Attack Speed determines how fast the hero uses their attack. A hero with double the attack speed of another hero would, therefore, strike twice as often in a given window of time. Attack speed is determined by a base speed for each hero, and it is increased by agility.

• Hit Points represent how much damage a hero can absorb before he is killed. Hit points regenerate with time to a maximum number. The maximum number of hit points a hero has and the rate at which it regenerates is a function of the hero's strength attributes. Higher strength heroes have a higher maximum number of hit points and regenerate faster. Hit points are indicated by a current and maximum value.

• Mana Points - A hero's mana is the amount of energy the hero has for utilizing abilities or casting spells. Most (but not all) abilities are powered by mana. Mana is also regenerated over time. The maximum amount of mana and the rate of mana regeneration is a function of the intelligence of the hero. Mana points are indicated by a current and maximum value.

• Armor Rating - A hero's armor rating is how much physical damage to the hero is reduced, where physical damage excludes damage from spells.

• Movement Speed - Determines how quickly the hero travels over a given distance, excluding the effects of spells. The movement speed is a base value of roughly 300, which is different from hero to hero, but may be modified by abilities or items. There is, however, a specific cap around 522 to movement speed that cannot be exceeded, though most heroes will not encounter this cap.

(A few heroes can attain this movement speed without a haste rune, those being Balanar the Night Stalker who has a passive run increase at night, Slardar the Slithereen Guard with his Sprint ability, Barathrum the Spirit Breaker with his Charge ability, Strygwyr the Blood Seeker who easily reaches 522 with his Strygwyr's Thirst ability, Anub'seran the Nerubian Weaver with his Shukuchi ability, Bone Clinkz the Bone Fletcher with his Windwalk ability, Syllabear the Lone Druid with his Rabid ability, and Banehallow the Lycanthrope while in his Wolf form.)

Summary of Attributes vs Hero Type and Statistics

A summary of the hero types based on Primary Attributes:

• Strength - usually a powerful melee attacker.
  • Pros: High Hit Points, fast HP regeneration rate, high damage, usually have a stun/disable spell
  • Cons: Attack is melee range only, low armor, slow attack speed, slow movement speed, weak early game
  • Examples for Outland: Dragon Turtle, Spinewrath, Dominator
  • Examples for Classic: Commander of the Abyss, Dragon Knight, Mannoroth, Garrondel
  • Examples for Allstars: Rogue Knight, Skeleton King, Centaur Warchief, Slithereen Guard, Tidehunter, Doombringer, Lifestealer, Pudge, Chaos Knight, Treant Protector, Spiritbreaker, Lord of Avernus, Lycanthrope
• Agility - usually archers, assassins, or rapid attackers. Can be either melee or ranged.
  • Pros: High damage, fast attack speed, high armor, passive abilities such as Critical Strike or Evasion
  • Cons: Low HP, lacks disable ability, weak early game
  • Examples for Outland: Disintigrator, Aquasoul, Lividus
  • Examples for Classic: Mageslayer, Zuljin Andorhall, Troll Warlord
  • Examples for Allstars: Drow Ranger, Bone Fletcher, Juggernaut, Lightning Revenant, Phantom Assassin, Stealth Assassin, Bounty Hunter, Sniper, especially Venomancer and Chonstermizer.
• Intelligence - usually spellcasters.
  • Pros: Usually ranged, high maximum mana, fast mana regeneration rate, powerful spells, strong early game
  • Cons: Low HP, low armor, weak late game
  • Examples for Outland: Stormweaver, Iviyst, Voodoo Shaman
  • Examples for Classic: Drenia Darkhaven, Wavebreaker, Soulrender, Purity's Disciple
  • Examples for Allstars: Crystal Maiden, Necrolyte, Witch Doctor, Lich, Lord of Olympia, Slayer, Shadow Shaman, Ogre Magi (the only melee intel hero), Demon Witch, Enchantress

Different Flavors of DotA

DotA Classic

This series is the original DotA, which began with Eul, the creator and first editor. This RoC map is considered by some DotA players to be the most balanced and best map series for DotA. Eul, the original editor and creator of DotA, has since declared his map to be open-source, and currently there is no official editor for the RoC DotA maps.

However, there are still unofficial editors whose maps are hosted frequently. The most notable current editors are Fluffy_Bunny (3.7, 3.8x, and 3.9x series), Ryude (3.7x series), and Danite (Rumble 3.x series, Danites Hell, and Multimode 4.0). DotA Classic for RoC has clans that continue to play against each other and also hold tournaments.

The most popular version on most servers is 3.7 (created by Fluffy_Bunny), while 3.6d is still played in Asia. The 3.7x, 3.8x and Rumble series are all played in decent numbers in public games.

CHAOS

CHAOS is a Korean-language port of DotA, and is not popular outside of Asia, though it enjoys cult-like popularity there.

Allstars

Main article: Defense of the Ancients: Allstars

Development

Currently, in most versions of Allstars, the map contains many more heroes and items than does the original DotA, and is updated frequently, which may explain its ongoing popularity. However, this popularity sparked a controversy over who ought to be credited for its fame. For instance, a number of Classic players resent Guinsoo for having 'stolen' their game, especially since he is alleged to have similarly 'borrowed' most of his triggers, spells, heroes and items from other people; Guinsoo, for his part, maintains that the map was created from scratch (besides the map layout) and based only spiritually on Eul's work. Regardless, Allstars remains widely played, and is the most popular Warcraft 3 custom map of all time.

Bugs in version 5 of AllStars prompted many to offer fixes to Guinsoo but the development of the code was opaque and release schedules were discretionary. As such, the map forked in version 5.84b. Guinsoo went missing, and IceFrog took over as head of project since version 6.

Current player trends

Currently, players have shown increasing interest in the 6.xx versions as with each consecutive version, more bugs are fixed and the map is believed to be more stable and balanced. Version 6.28, the most current official version, is the most frequently played on Battle.net and LAN parties. It has been noted that only the Malaysians still frequently play 5.84c on the Battle.net servers.

Currently, DotA Allstars is popular among many players around the world, as observed on the Battle.net servers and the PvPGN network of private servers. Players of DotA Allstars, particularly in the Asian region, sometimes go to cybercafés for friendly matches and cash tournaments.

Dota Allstars was also featured in the Malaysian and Singaporean World Cyber Games 2005.

Outland

DotA Outland is another Frozen Throne variant of DotA, mostly maintained by Softmints and JackOfBlades, but now work has passed onto emjlr3 for the time being, who is very experienced with JASS, and will be able to bring a new dimension of hero making to Outland. It is less well-known than Allstars, but updated far more frequently. It is more hero-based than item-based, a slightly slower-paced game than Allstars, and the heroes are entirely different. Development has re-started after much time was taken in fixing the lag spikes created in 4.4b. The next version will be released very soon.

Comparing Outland to other AoS's (The genre of DotA maps)

• Compared to DotA Classic: It's a more hero-based Aeon of Strife, with less emphasis on buildings and upgrades, and a faster game.
• Compared to Allstars: Less emphasis on crushing the opponents with powerful items; though victory through powerful item builds is still very possible.
• Compared to Tides of Blood: More heroes and less emphasis on buildings.

Unique characteristics of DotA Outland

Some information partially adapted from the DotA Outland page (as written by the Outland creator).

• Items are far less powerful and more character-specific. (e.g. don't use a Lothar's Annihalator with a hero like Iviyst or Lividus.)
• Recipes located outside the entrance of the fountain, three books on pedestals. Level 3 items aren't imbalanced, considering generally high gold costs and only moderately strong bonuses.
• The "Challenge" aspect (see below).
• Usage of Waygates for teleportation.
• Switches control the ability to raise/lower the bridges, which change the possible escape routes and pathways.
• The amount of items a hero carries decides the gold bounty gained for killing him. For example, if a hero was carrying 6000 gold worth of items, 600 would be added to his bounty, because he was harder to kill.
• Destroying enemy towers gives Energy which can be used to upgrade friendly towers or troops. Energy is also gotton from hero kills or can be traded for gold at one of the shops, and is also used for upgrading items.
• A reputation for some unique and original heros with varied skills, rather than the more monotonus other versions. (Little is known about Dota CHAOS in this reigon)

Challenges

Challenges, much like the Rune powerups in Allstars, are an interesting aspect of Outland. A player picks up a rune, and is then given a challenge to complete. If the player succeeds, he/she gains 750 gold; failure will cause the loss of a level, which is more significant in Outland than other versions. This puts pressure on the player to complete the objectives.

The current Challenges are:

• Slaughter - A hero on the enemy team is singled out, and must be killed within 3 minutes.
• Survival - Survive for 3 minutes, with a 1000 gold bounty on your head, you are enemies to both your creeps and towers, and their creeps - no hiding in your base. Your location is pinged for all players every second.

Only one challenge of each type can be active at any one time, but two challenges can be held at the same time by a single player.

Heroes

The hero variants of Outland differ from other versions in many ways. Firstly, experience gain is slower at the start of a game, and items take priority. Secondly, the heroes are much more functional towards their purpose, for example, the Red Stain is an excellent "hero-killer", yet its "pushing" (See Lingo below) skills are weak, unless its entire item build (order and selection of items) is focused upon it, causing it to become only moderate at both.

Hero killing is also a harder task to perform, as heroes are generally more resilient, and all heroes have access to an "escape move" (ability which aids in escaping from a hero trying to kill another hero). There are many "special" hero types in Outland, which have entirely different gameplay from other heroes, most notably the "Shadowdancer" whose movement style is based on "blinking" (short distance teleportation) and Focus Monk, which needs to go into a "Trance" every 60 seconds to replenish his energies. This takes 5 seconds to activate, and his skills gain bonus' upon activation of this skill. Heroes with these abilities are designated by red text displaying the abilities when selecting the hero.

Jargon

The following are commonly used in DotA games as a mean of communicating with other players. They are also known as the "DotA language". Don't be a chump

Note: this is by no means an exhaustive list; also, certain terms are only applicable to particular variants of DotA.

Instructions

• b - Short for "back", used to cue team members to retreat, however most players just say "back" to avoid confusion.
• d - Short for "drop", often used to urge other players to drop a lagging player.
• rax - Used to signal team members to destroy their opponents' Barracks (The term rax/racks originates from the short form for Barracks).
• all/siege mid/top/bottom - Used to signal team members to push/rush to a certain lane. Done when players want to ambush enemy heroes, counter push or just do an attempt to take down "rax".
• bait - Used to signal a team member to rush ahead, often prompting the whole group of enemies to swoop down on him while the rest of his team comes out secretly and wipes out the whole opposing team.
• Forfeit (ff) - The acronym "ff" is used mainly in TDA games and other forms of higher level play as a way for a team to forfeit and withdraw from a game before the Throne/World Tree is destroyed.

Actions

• back (b) - Used to cue team members to retreat.
• boom - Instruction to detonate mines laid by the Goblin Techies (Allstars), to damage enemies.
• BS - Short for backstab. An act of attacking a hero from behind.
• chak/chakra, mana, mana plz - Used to cue the Keeper of the Light (Allstars) to cast chakra magic on the player to restore mana.
• care - Short for be careful. Used to warn players of danger. Mainly used when far into enemy territory or when a player sees an enemy.
• creep - A creep is a unit that is not controlled by a player. Killing a creep yields gold for the player that killed it. In DotA this refers to those fighting on the two sides as well as neutral ones. Also used as a verb to refer to killing creeps.
• creep deny/deny xp - The act of killing one's own low HP friendly creeps, denying experience and gold to enemy heroes.
• cont/stay - Used to cue players to continue on with the game despite leavers.
• Defend/def - Used to cue team members to defend a tower, barracks, or lane from the opposing team
• farm - This refers to the strategy of exclusively killing creeps in order to purchase better weapons and gain experience faster. More specifically, in the absence of enemy heroes.
• flood - Teams "flood" when multiple players on the same team mass in one lane, usually with the intent of destroying an enemy tower or creep generator, but sometimes also to "gangbang" enemy heroes.
• gangbang (gb) - the act of multiple heroes converging on one hero to kill that hero. Ceaselessly repeated gangbanging is also known as clusterfucking.
• gank - A synonym for gangbang.
• gone - When a hero is 'gone' from sight and cannot be seen at any place on the map. This is used to warn one to be wary of that particular hero who might attack him/her.
• kill tower - When friendly tower has low hit points left, destroying the tower denies the enemy heros the gold gained from destroying it.
• Micro - The act of waiting for the last hit on an enemy creep to gain more gold, or killing your own low hp creeps to deny experience and gold to your enemy. Also refers to moving units towards either the back or front of an army (or back to a fountain to heal) to either "tank" for other units, save the running unit's life to deny the enemy experience and gold, or to move a wounded unit away from a battle so that he won't be targeted by enemy units thus avoiding death and then order the unit to attack again that way he will continue to deal damage while not being attacked. Microing can also be giving many commands to many different units in a short period of time.
• Missing - When a hero is missing from his/her lane. Hero could be trying to ambush/gank heroes in other lanes or could be just healing or buying at base.
• Missing in Action (MIA) - The acronym "mia" is also used to warn teammates of a missing enemy hero.
• permastun - The act of quickly attacking an enemy hero with a chance to stun on hit such that the hero is virtually unable to move and becomes essentially "permanently stunned."
• pawn/pwn/own/poon/pwnzor - A derisive term refering to the skillful domination of an enemy hero. Even more appropriate when the 'owned' hero/player is killed repetitively. (See also pwn and owned.)
• pwnage/pawnage/poonage/ownage - The act of owning/pwning an enemy hero.
• push - Pushing is the main objective of DotA. It is accomplished by staying in a lane and advancing on enemy towers to destroy them.
• RMK/RM - Short for remake. Suggests the host to remake the game and for the players to join.
• rape - The act of completely demoralizing and destroying the opponent.
• Sozownt - An exclamation named after an infamous game disrupter known as "Sozo". An exclamation typed by players with the intent of disrupting a game of Dota.
• TP - Short for "teleport". Teleport is a spell used to instantly teleport to a friendly building or creep. TP is also used to signal Chen, a sentinel hero, to teleport a friendly player back to the team's fountain.
• w/zap/wrath/zeus/wog/z00s - Instruction for the Lord of Olympia (Allstars) to cast a spell which strikes all enemy heroes with a bolt of lightning.
• h/heal - Instruction for an ally (often specifically directed at the Holy Knight (Allstars)) to cast a spell which heals an allied hero for a certain amount of hitpoints instantly. The Holy Knight's particular spell heals all allied heroes regardless of location which explains the often directed instruction. The same can also apply to Omniknight (Purification) and Necro'lyte (Death Pulse).
• ulti - Refers to signaling the usage of a hero's level 6 skill. Also known as ultimate.

Strategies

• bs/backstab - the tactic of ambushing (backstabbing) heroes; which is common among stealth heroes such as Stealth Assassin and Lifestealer (DotA) or Bounty Hunter and Bone Fletcher (Allstars).
• div-kick ass with lycan
• pump/pool/stack/feed - the process of team members working together to give items or gold to a single player, especially expensive and powerful items for the purpose of strengthening a particular hero; sometimes seen as bad sportsmanship. In DotA, gold and items can both be given. In Allstars, the feature of giving gold has been disabled. However, you may still give items to your allies in Allstars. Current CAL policy forbids pooling items to heroes, although exceptions are made for some early game items such as rings of regeneration and sobi masks, however, pooling is sometimes forbidden or restricted in clan games.
• backdooring/skipping - tactic of going behind the current enemy line, with characters that have teleporting features, such as the Prophet (hero in AllStars), or skills that grant invisibility such as windwalk, and destroying enemy structures without killing creeps first. Clan TDA defines backdooring as initiating an attack on an enemy structure without the presence of supporting creeps, though it is specifically allowed by Clan TDA rules. Many players consider this underhanded to the point of cheating and it is hotly debated as to whether backdooring should be allowed in official games.

Combos

Solo combo - the tactic of attack with a single hero to kill an enemy hero. Example: Sven uses God's Strength; Nerubian Assassin uses Impale. Group combo - the tactic of many heroes using their skills to take down an enemy hero. Example: Rhasta uses Hero Shackles, then Ezalor uses Illuminate; Slardar uses War stomp, then Venomancer uses Poison nova.

Insults

• dotard - Used only infrequently ingame, most commonly used offline. Refers to an obsessive player who constantly proclaims his skill, when in fact he has none.
• feeder - Refers to a player who is repeatedly killed by opposing heroes, thus "feeding" those opposing heroes extra experience/gold at a faster rate. Also commonly used to describe a person who commits suicide intentionally to aid the enemy team. A feeder is generally an annoyance or a burden to the team who may ultimately lead to the downfall of their teammates. Feeders are also less commonly known as 'atms' (from the bank teller machines) on some servers. Feeding, however, may also mean helping a teammate obtain a particular item, thereby to 'feed' the hero to support the team.
• hacker, bugger, exploiter - A player who exploits the imbalances or bugs in a game to gain the upper hand without merit of skill. Occasionally used as an insult to newbies. Hacker is chiefly used to denote players who use a maphack (i.e. a program which allows players to see the entirety of the map at all times).
• Ham Kar Chan - more commonly used by the Asian Cantonese Dota population, cursing the whole opponents team are to-be-owned badly.
• leaver - A player who leaves a game intentionally. Commonly used as an insult to refer to a player who leaves because they dislike a game or its players or because they believe that they cannot win. Generally a leaving player makes it harder for his teammates to win and makes victory by the other team less satisfying. The leaver is the number one cause of ruined games. Common now are banlist programs, where one can gather leaver's names, to remember not to play with them again.
• newbie, newb, noob,noobo,nubcake, nub,noobsauce, noobzor - An insult that attacks the player's skill. This insult implies that the player is new to the game. While not overtly insulting, players who are not new take offense because they believe they have more skill than someone playing the map for the first time. Newbie is less offensive than offshoots such as nublet or nubcake, which combines "noob" with "cupcake" for a more degrading effect.
• puller/lagger/pull-plug/pp- A player who lags too much from the other players may be disconnected due to high lag times. Prior to disconnecting, the game is frozen and a countdown timer is shown. Some players deliberately pull their connections (i.e. physically pulling out the Ethernet cable, hence the name) to lag out. These pullers do this to avoid getting blacklisted for leaving.
• "†" - more commonly used by the European DotA population, sent to opponents to taunt him after a kill, refering to a gravestone (input via ALT+0134 on the Numeric Keypad).
• "Tiu" - commonly used by Asian Cantonese Dota Players to insult the opposing or even the allied team, translates as 'fuck' in English.

Comments

• bg - Short for "bad game." Usually used when a leaver/lagger/newbie destroys the entire gameplay.
• gg - Short for "good game." Literally, it is just an expression to show that the players appreciate the game. May also mean "a good match"; or said out of courtesy during the game's end. However, it is often used to signal the end of a game or a point where the game cannot be won by a team. Increasingly, it is used to mean "nice try" or "I got you" by a player who has killed another player and is generally meant to taunt. Saying 'gg' before the losing team is generally regarded as a breach of etiquette, and labels any players who use it as obnoxious and arrogant.
• mh - Short for "maphack". This acronym is generally used to accuse a player(s) of having an unfair advantage through third-party programs that keep the entire map revealed for the accused player(s).
• rm/rmk/rr/rs/re - Short for "remake"/"remake"/"restart round"/"restart"/"rematch." "rm" is by far the most common.
• gl hf - Short for "good luck have fun". Usually used before a game start to indicate good sportsmanship.
• ff - Short for forfeit. In TDA games a team is allowed to forfeit if all members of the team announces ff in all talk. This can be done at the 60 minute mark. After forfeiting, a team is allowed to leave without being banned as leavers.

Hero classifications

Specific to Classic

Note: this applies for DotA Classic only.

• Defenders - Defenders are heroes who, in general, have area of effect spells. They use these spells to prevent creeps from destroying their team's buildings. Ex.: Aquasoul, Venomancer, Tormented Soul.
• Hero Killers - Heroes which are best at killing other heroes. Ex.: Troll Warlord, Storm Spirit, Lycanthrope, Mageslayer.
• Tankers - Tankers, also called seigers, are heroes, usually with high hit points or armor, who are built to destroy enemy buildings. As they can usually stay attacking for a long time without inteference, they are termed siegers. Ex.: Pit Lord, Demon Magess, Earthshaker.
• Supporters - As the name suggests, Supporters are heroes who aid others. They usually have a secondary use. Ex.: Purity's Disciple, Soulrender, Omniknight.

Specific to Allstars

Note: these do not apply to DotA only.

• AOE - Short for "Area Of Effect". AOE spells usually have an effect over an area (as oppose to one target). The most valuable AOE spells are usually ultimates that are cast by certain heroes, causing devastating amounts of damage or long-duration stuns in a large area within a short period of time. Heroes with AOE spells like these are almost always used in higher level play and clan matches due to their ability to quickly disable and/or kill the opposing team within a relatively short period of time.
• assassins - heroes which specialize at killing other heroes quickly through physical damage. All of them have some form of invisibility. (Bone Clinkz/Bounty Hunter with WindWalk, Stealth Assassin with Permanent Invisibility) These heroes are generally preferred in non-competitive games, due to their ability to quickly kill lone heroes and ease of escape.
• disablers - heroes which possess the ability to disable other characters with Hex, or any form of stuns (Demon Witch with Voodoo/Impale, Shadow Shaman with Voodoo/Shackles, Bane Elemental with Nightmare/Fiend's Grip).
• nukers - heroes which possess the ability to cause massive amounts of damage in a single instant, usually via use of multiple abilities (Lion with Impale+Finger of Death, Slayer with Dragon Slave+Light Strike Array+Laguna Blade, Zeus with Lighting+Chain Lightning+Thunder God's Wrath).
• permabashers/permastunner/permastun - heroes which possess the ability to stun on hit, usually with the help of items such as Cranium Basher or from their innate ability to stun (Slardar, Troll Warlord (berserker rage), Dwarven Sniper (headshot), Spiritbreaker, and especially Faceless Void).
• Perma-disablers - Heroes that possess 3 or more disables and can, theoretically, keep a hero infinitely disabled. Perma-disable is often achieved with the aid of disabler items such as Eul's Scepter of Divinity and Guinsoo's Scythe of Vyse( Rhasta, Bane Elemental, Demon Witch)
• pushers - heroes which can quickly destroy enemy towers/creep generators due to their ability to summon additional units (Prophet with Treants, Keeper of the Light with Ignuus Fatuus/Liberated Souls, BroodMother with spiderlings, Death Prophet with her ultimate, Phantom Lancer with his images)
• setters - heroes who can set-up an array of enemy heroes to be attacked by the team. Usually involves heroes with a massive area effect ability, such as Darchrow's Black Hole, or Magnataur's Reverse Polarity.
• spammers - heroes which spam offensive spells repeatedly in an attempt to hero kill or disrupt the opponents play (this frequently causes enemy heroes to go back to their "fountain" to heal, thereby wasting time and Hero experience points) (e.g. Zeus with Arc Lightning, Death Prophet, Lich, and Razor with Chain Lightning).
• stunners - heroes which possess the ability to stun other characters, usually through spell casting, such as Impale, Storm Bolt, Magic Missile and Burrowstrike, etc.
• support - heroes who are more effective in aiding allied heroes in obtaining kills as opposed to delivering the kill shot themselves (ie Purist/certain combinations of heros).
• tankers/tanks - heroes which can absorb huge amounts of damage (high HP/armor), typically used to destroy enemy towers (Treant Protector with Living Armor, Centaur Warchief with high Strength, Morphling with high Strength, Bone Fletcher with Death Pact).

It should be noted that heroes are usually classified more simply by their primary attribute (i.e. agility, intelligence, or strength), and many of the above classifications are both extremely rare and extremely specific, to the point of being misleading. For instance, rooftrellen is both a 'setter,' 'tanker,' and potentially, an assassin.

Miscellaneous

• allpick abuse, ap abuse - The situation where in a game with the "allpick" option enabled, a team intentionally coordinates to pick the cheapest heroes in the game, or heroes that compliment each other very well (e.g. picking all stunners or all high-hitpoint strength heroes) so as to give them an advantage over their opponents who have more varied heroes. It must be noted that although there is nothing illegal as such about allpick abuse, the practice is considered to be unsporting behaviour.
• Banlist - A third party program used to maintain a list of unwanted players. The banlist is often used to check a player's ping, what country they are from, and to signal for and kick unwanted players.
• imba - Imbalanced. Used to indicate a hero, item or team that is considered inherently to be too strong. You will hear this word a lot while playing DotA, as there are numerous imbalances and exploits yet to be fixed.
• inhouse - a game in which players who join are from a specific channel/clan, usually seen as more of a competitive style of play as opposed to public games.
• KS - Kill Steal. Used to indicate the action of a friendly hero coming and stealing their teamate's kill; for example a hero attacks an enemy until near death, and the hero who does a KS delivers the final attack to the enemy or using a skill to steal the kill, thereby getting a kill point and gold. May also be extended to tower kills. Usually this type of action is not encouraged.
• newbie - A player new to DotA who does not know its features and thus plays badly.
• player 13 - Neutral creeps. Usually appears in death messages, when a player dies to them. One can chose to die to neutral creeps to deny experience and gold to enemy heroes.
• pb - "Pay back", when asking team member to lend gold. In most cases, gold is requested when a player is close to affording an item he/she wants. Large sums of gold are normally transferred a few seconds before death, in order to avoid the gold penalty one takes on death. (Note: most TFT versions have eliminated the resource sharing feature)
• pub - a public game
• priv/inhouse/ih - a private game or TDA game.
• Roshan - The strongest neutral creep in the map, near the first tower on the Scourge side. All players of a team will receive +800 gold if the killing blow is made by a player on the team (Allstars).
• Hydra, Scary Fish, and Siege Golem - Strongest Random supercreeps in Scourge and Sentinel when -sc (supercreeps) is enabled (Hydra is the strongest supercreep). receives +400 gold if they killed (Allstars).
• (country code) - A two or three letter code used in the game name to represent the country of the game host. This is important to reduce latency within games.
• TDA - A private game filled with the help of TDABOT. On US EAST/WEST you can /w tdabot !game (# of _PLAYERS_ needed) (GN) and it will spam the Clan TDA channel. This is one way of filling a game with people who for the most part wont leave or suicide. You must either get safelisted via forum contribution or have a ladder icon to do this.
• TK - Short for "Teamkill" or "Teamkilling". There are different forms of this. Killing a teammate who is shadowstriked or doomed, who was going to die anyway, is good. It denies the enemy gold and XP. However, someone getting your teammate killed, who would not have died otherwise is bad for obvious reasons. It should be noted that teamkilling can be outlawed by tournament or similar rules. Teamkilling is nearly impossible in Allstars. However, ways do exist. Certain heroes have skills that can affect allies in a negative way if used correctly. Certain skills include: Pudge's meathook, for reeling in allied heroes (an especially devious situation would be to reel someone into the trees via an ent stone, then teleporting away and leaving them stranded in the trees; Vengeful Spirit's ultimate can also do this); Prophet's ability to encircle an allied hero in tree, thus immoblizing them; Tauren's fissure which can block off an allied hero from escape; Magnataur's ultimate which can draw allied heroes toward it. These skills and more are often used in a way to benefit your team, but in the wrong hands, it can be used against your teammates; and Tiny's toss which can throw an ally in harm's way. Professional tkers should be watched for, as they pretend to be working for the team, but in reality are undermining it. They will often pretend to be helping the team, but in key battles they will often make a "mistake" that will leave the field strewn with allied bodies.
• feeder - someone who continually and purposefully suicides themself to give the opposing heroes gold and experience, thus "feeding" the opposing team. This is a variation of tk, in which instead of directly hurting your allies, you instead help your opponents. Sometimes newbs are confused with feeders, as a newb will die quite often and may seem like they are feeding. The difference here can be blurry, and some feeders take advantage of this by pretending to be newbs, thus arguing that it's not purposeful and malicious.

External links

http://www.dota-allstars.com/ (The official site of Dota Allstars game - the page is back online)
http://www.dota-inside.net/ (a german/english DotA-Allstars community site)
http://www.dotacn.net/ (the biggest and most influential chinese DotA-Allstars website with a community and complete DotA-Allstars databases, all in mandarin)
http://www.dotaportal.com/ (an English forum with many Asian members)
http://www.wc3banlist.de/ (the site to download the BanList program)
http://dota-allstars.us/ (the site of RayBDBomb, a man who writes Dota AI /Artifical Intelligence/ maps)
http://dota.fowk.com (US English DotA Allstars community & info site: Heroes. Items. Forums. Replays.)

• DotA-League - International DotA-League

Other countries:

http://dotapick.ru/ - a Russian Dota-Allstars community site
http://dota.org.ua/ - an Ukraine Dota-Allstars community site
http://dota.la/ - a Mandarin DotA-Allstars forum
http://dota.retech.hu/ - a Hungarian DotA-Allstars community site